The Oxford Handbook of the American Congress

Description

No legislature in the world has a greater influence over its nation's public affairs than the US Congress. The Congress's centrality in the US system of government has placed research on Congress at the heart of scholarship on American politics. Generations of American government scholars working in a wide range of methodological traditions have focused their analysis on understanding Congress, both as a lawmaking and a representative institution. The Oxford Handbook of the American Congress takes stock of this impressive and diverse literature, identifying areas of accomplishment and promising directions for future work. The editors have commissioned 38 chapters by leading scholars in the field, each chapter critically engages the scholarship focusing on a particular aspect of congressional politics, including the institution's responsiveness to the American public, its procedures and capacities for policymaking, its internal procedures and development, relationships between the branches of government, and the scholarly methodologies for approaching these topics. The Handbook also includes chapters addressing timely questions, including partisan polarization, congressional war powers, and the supermajoritarian procedures of the contemporary Senate. Beyond simply bringing readers up to speed on the current state of research, the volume offers critical assessments of how each literature has progressed--or failed to progress--in recent decades. The chapters identify the major questions posed by each line of research and assess the degree to which the answers developed in the literature are persuasive. The goal is not simply to tell us where we have been as a field, but to set an agenda for research on Congress for the next decade.

The Oxford Handbooks of American Politics are a set of reference books offering authoritative and engaging critical overviews of the state of scholarship on American politics. Each volume focuses on a particular aspect of the field. The project is under the General Editorship of George C. Edwards III, and distinguished specialists in their respective fields edit each volume. The Handbooks aim not just to report on the discipline, but also to shape it as scholars critically assess the scholarship on a topic and propose directions in which it needs to move. The series is an indispensable reference for anyone working in American politics.

General Editor for The Oxford Handbooks of American Politics: George C. Edwards III

The Oxford Handbook of the American Congress

Author Information

Eric Schickler is Jeffrey and Ashley McDermott Professor and Chair of Political Science at the University of California-Berkeley. He is the author of Disjointed Pluralism, and co-author, with Greg Wawro, of Filibuster: Obstruction and Lawmaking in the U.S. Senate. Both books received APSA's Richard F. Fenno Award for the best book published on legislative politics. He is also co-author of Partisan Hearts and Minds (with Donald Green and Bradley Palmquist), and has authored or co-authored articles in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Studies in American Political Development, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Social Science History.

Frances E. Lee is Professor of Government and Politics at University of Maryland-College Park. He is the author of Beyond Ideology, coauthor of Sizing Up The Senate, and co-author of a comprehensive textbook on the U.S. Congress, Congress and Its Members. Her research has appeared in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, and Legislative Studies Quarterly. Lee's work has received national recognition, including the APSA's E. E. Schattschneider Award for the best dissertation in American Politics, the D. B. Hardeman Award presented by the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation for the best book on a congressional topic, and the APSA's Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Award for the best book on legislative politics published.

Contributors:

E. Scott Adler, Associate Professor of Political Science, University Of Colorado-BoulderStephen Ansolabehere, Professor of Government, Harvard UniversityMichael A. Bailey, Associate Professor of American Government, Georgetown UniversityRoss K. Baker, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers UniversityWilliam Bendix, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, University of British ColumbiaRichard Bensel, Professor of Government, Cornell UniversitySarah Binder, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution; Professor of Political Science, George Washington UniversityAbby Blass, Ph.D. Candidate in Government, University Of Texas-Austin.David W. Brady, Professor of Political Science and Professor in Leadership Values, Stanford University; Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford UniversityJamie L. Carson, Associate Professor of Political Science, University Of GeorgiaGary W. Cox, Professor of Political Science, Stanford UniversityDouglas Dion, Associate Professor of Political Science, University Of IowaC. Lawrence Evans, Professor Of Government, College Of William and MaryDiana Evans, Professor of Political Science, Trinity CollegeMorris P. Fiorina, Professor of Political Science and Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford UniversityLinda Fowler, Professor of Government and Chair in Policy Studies, Dartmouth CollegeJohn B. Gilmour, Associate Director, Thomas Jefferson Program in Public Policy and Professor of Government, College Of William and MaryJohn D. Griffin, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Notre DamePatrick Hickey, Ph.D. Candidate in Government, University Of Texas-AustinJeffery A. Jenkins, Associate Professor of Politics, University Of VirginiaPhilip E. Jones, Assistant Professor Oo Political Science and International Relations, University of DelawareIra Katznelson, Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia UniversityRobin Kolodny, Associate Professor of Political Science, Temple UniversityFrances E. Lee, Professor of Political Science, University of MarylandBeth L. Leech, Associate Professor of Political Science, Rutgers UniversityForrest Maltzmann, Professor of Political Science, George Washington UniversityDavid R. Mayhew, Professor of Political Science, Yale UniversityMathew D. McCubbins, Professor of Business, Law, and Political Economy, University of Southern CaliforniaMichael P. McDonald, Assistant Professor of Government and Politics, George Mason UniversityNolan M. McCarty, Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton UniversityBruce I. Oppenheimer, Professor of Political Science, Vanderbilt UniversityBarry Pump, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science, University of Washington-SeattlePaul J. Quirk, Chair in US Politics and Representation, University of British ColumbiaJason M. Roberts, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of North Carolina-Chapel HillStella M. Rouse, Assistant Professor of Government and Politics, University Of Maryland-College ParkBrian F. Schaffner, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachussets-AmherstEric Schickler, Chair in Political Science, University of California-BerkeleyWendy Schiller, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, Brown UniversityCharles R. Shipan, Professor of Social Science and Professor of Public Policy, University of MichiganRandall W. Strahan, Professor of Political Science, Emory UniversityTracy Sulkin, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-ChampaignMichele L. Swers, Associate Professor of Government, Georgetown UniversitySean Theriault, Associate Professor of Government, University of Texas-AustinCraig Volden, Professor of Political Science, Ohio State UniversityGregory J. Wawro, Associate Professor of Political Science, Columbia UniversityJohn D. Wilkerson, Associate Professor of Political Science, University Of Washington-SeattleAlan Wiseman, Associate Professor of Political Science, Ohio State UniversityB. Dan Wood, Professor of Political Sciencer, Cornerstone Fellow, and Director of the American Politics Program, Texas A&M University

The Oxford Handbook of the American Congress

Reviews and Awards

"A remarkable volume. Eric Schickler and Frances Lee have assembled an impressive array of scholars who have produced a set of essays that cover the full range of topics for the study of Congress. They deal with elections and institutional considerations, as well as various approaches to analyzing the House and Senate. Moreover, the essays are not merely summaries of the literature. They offer critical evaluations of the analyses that have been done, and perceptive and useful suggestions about future directions for research. Every library will want to have this book in its collection, and every congressional researcher will want a copy for her or his own."--David W. Rohde, Professor of Political Science, Duke University

"The Oxford Handbooks of American Politics are a grandly ambitious undertaking. Success depends on coverage, scholarship, and editorial command. Measured by these standards, the Handbooks will be immensely valuable to the discipline. The right topics are analyzed by knowledgeable scholars and managed by experienced editors. A five-star project that will influence teaching and research for decades."--Charles O. Jones, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"A service to the study of politics ... [one] of the finest volumes ever published by an academic press. Editors Schickler and Lee have assembled an all-star cast of scholars who produce uniformly excellent, comprehensive treatments of the vast scholarly literature on Congress ... Every library in the US should have a copy of this book on its shelves.--S. Q. Kelly, California State University Channel Islands, CHOICE